Cause and Effect
by Chronos the Cat
Summary: What if history was more responsive to change than seen in the Chrono games? A story fragment and summary, formerly part of "Temporal Branches".


Author's Note: The following story was inspired by a couple different endings to Chrono Trigger. For this idea to work, history must be more responsive to potential alterations than seen in the main course of the game.

This is a story fragment, followed by a short summary of what I intended to happen afterwards. If anyone wishes to continue the fragment, just let me know.

* * *

Chrono Trigger:

Cause and Effect

by Chronos the Cat

Crono and Lucca walked into the Queen's chamber, just in time to watch Marle appear, in a flash of light.

Crono and Lucca sighed in relief. Lucca said, "Thank goodness you're safe."

"Yes, I'm fine, now. What happened? I felt like I was somewhere else, somewhere cold and dark. Is that what it's like to die?"

Then what Lucca had said sunk in. "Princess... Nadia...? Uh-Oh!" She made a sound an awful lot like Frog's croak, which Crono and Lucca chalked up to being stressed. "I guess you figured it out!"

Not long after that, the trio made their way to the spot in Truce Canyon where they'd all appeared in the Middle ages in the first place. Lucca pulled out her Time Key and explained how it worked, then they used it to open the Time Gate and return home.

Arriving at the Millennial Fair, Marle invited Crono and Lucca to come home with her for dinner. Lucca refused, saying she had other things to do. Crono was more than happy to escort her home.

When they arrived at the castle, the guards teased her.

"Got a handsome one this time! Maybe if you keep your disguise on, he'll stick around for a while!"

She gave a disgusted croak. "Oh, be quiet."

Just then the Chancellor showed up.

"So, you're the one who kidnapped the princess! Guards, arrest him!"

_After a sham of a trial..._

Crono sat in the dungeon, trying to figure a way out of this. He only had three days-- then the Chancellor was going to have him executed.

_One daring escape later..._

Crono ran around the corner, and bumped into Lucca. "Oh, you're free! I had came here to rescue you, but I guess you didn't need my help, after all. Come on, let's get out of here."

They ran up to the top of the tower, and made their way across the bridge to the next tower. The chancellor sent his Dragon-Tank to stop them, but they destroyed it, and ran on into the tower, and down to the main floor of the castle.

There they were surrounded by guards.

Just then, there was a loud, frog-like croak, and Marle called out, "Stop this. Guards, I order you to leave my friends alone."

"Your highness!" The guards all bowed-- giving Crono and Lucca a good look at Marle. She was wearing a dress, instead of her usual clothes, but they hardly noticed it, for staring at her face. It was the face of a frog.

Lucca stammered, "M-marle?! What happened to you?"

"Happened? Nothing happened. This is what I look like without my disguise. You didn't know that?"

"B-but, I was certain you were human."

"No... The Guardia family has been amphibious since Queen Leene married the hero of the war against Magus, the frog known as Glenn. You know, come to think of it, that frog you guys met might have been him."

Lucca was flabbergasted. "Queen Leene married Frog?! But what happened to King Guardia XXXIII?!"

Now Marle was perplexed. "He died in the war against Magus, before he and Leene could have children. Didn't you know that?"

"But he was just alive in 600 AD!"

"Well, obviously, he died after that."

Lucca turned to Crono. "I think we didn't quite manage to return history to normal."

"Yeah, I would think I would have heard if we were ruled by frogs. But why doesn't Marle remember things our way?"

"Because, this Marle came into existence after we'd done most of our meddling in the past. If I follow this correctly, the real Marle never returned to existence after we rescued Leene."

Marle put her hands on her hips and croaked. "Hey, I'm real."

Lucca said quickly, "What I meant was the Marle from Crono's and my time-line no longer exists. I didn't mean to say that you aren't real, just that you aren't her."

"Oh. If you say so."

Just then, the Canceler and the King showed up, and ordered the guards to capture Crono and Lucca. When Marle protested, the King told her to grow up. Instead, she tore off her dress, put on her human costume, and joined Lucca and Crono in their flight from the castle.

* * *

Further Plot:

Arriving in the future, they finally have time to talk. Realize will need to find a way back to the Middle ages to save King and restore history. Marle agrees to this. Though she doesn't remember being human, she hates the constant teasing and would love to be human.

Then they get bigger concerns when they learn of Lavos.

When Magus is defeated, Crono, Frog and third team mate are sucked into vortex. Crono dreams of being married to a human Marle.

Awakening in the Prehistoric Ages, they find frog-Marle has ceased to exist. But, now the present is ruled by the reptites.

When Azela defeated, human Marle finally returns.

Fight Lavos while Crono dead?


End file.
